If being delusional is having a false persistent belief or opinion not substantiated by sensory or objective evidence, then this blog is about what happens just before that. So, as you read and respond, keep the goal in mind. There is a big difference between being almost insane and being barely insane. This blog is about that difference.

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

Finger Arithmetic Part Two

Continuing finger arithmetic from Part One. This third part is called Part Two. We start addition. It may seem as if the lesson moves slowly. Take your time. The harder stuff builds on this easy stuff.

First, we'll add one and one. Start with a fist on your right hand. Put out a finger to represent one. Add another finger. Read the answer out loud: two.

You might think we've already covered this. And you'd be right. We have added one repeatedly in order to count. In some sense, this is nothing new.

Next example. Add one plus two. Start with a fist on your right hand. Put out a finger to set one. Add two fingers to it. Read the answer out loud: three.

Next example. Add two plus two. Start with a fist on your right had. Put two fingers out to set two. Add two fingers to it. Read the answer out loud: four.

5 comments:

what a delicious headache i have now!I'm going back to the 666 site - and in 666AD they didn't yet know about 666 -cuz- the bible hadn't been translated and anyway in those days 666 was just the symbol over the door like banks in the UK for the non-literate..oh headache doubled.....

Though this was posted on the day of the beast, finger math won't get to three digits until after subtraction. That may be around part twenty.

Now then, i mentioned binary arithmetic, allowing one to count to over 1,000. In binary, 666 is 1010011010. Think of it as 10100 11010 with the little pinky and middle finger of the left hand up, and the thumb, index finger and ring finger of the right hand up. That's 666. I find the right hand is a little awkward.

I mentioned tactile feedback toward the end of Part One (the 2nd part).http://predelusional.blogspot.com/2006/05/finger-arithmetic-part-one-of-many.html

Some nights when doing astronomy, and i want to know the angle between (for example) 15 degrees and 285 degrees, i'll do touch finger math. It is dark, and i'm looking through the eyepiece anyway. So the answer to the above is 360 - 285 + 15 = 90. Since i only have two hands, i remember each of the hundreds digits.